


Mansion on the Hill

by tinkr_tailr



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Don't know how long this fic will be, F/M, Gen, Hopefully I will finish it!, M/M, Or how long it will take, Songfic, Tony still got kidnapped
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 00:37:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11474931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinkr_tailr/pseuds/tinkr_tailr
Summary: Tony left the small town of Castle just before turning 20, setting out for New York City and Stark Industries. But after being kidnapped, he's realized that maybe, just maybe, home is exactly where he needs to be right now.





	Mansion on the Hill

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran
> 
> For my little superhusbands kouhai, Nola

Few things could really shake Tony Stark to the core. He’d managed to make it through his parents death all right, he’d been targeted by killers before. He was a genius inventor with his weapons company. Well. He had been a genius inventor with a weapons company. It was currently up for debate as to whether the company would still be his in a few months. And if he managed to keep it, it would most certainly not be a weapons company anymore. The kidnapping had been what had shaken him awake to all the damage and destruction he and his company were doing. After being hit by one of his own weapons after being ambushed after a demonstration for the army and nearly dying, he was definitely looking at the world in a new way. And he knew that he needed to make it a better place.

So how did that all relate to the fact that he was driving 90 mph down twisting country lanes in the middle of nowhere headed to a town no one but the inhabitants had ever heard of? Well, that was mostly due to Pepper forcing him to take a break and let her deal with the Board. He had graciously stepped back. (After Rhodey had shoved him bodily into the car along with his luggage and had threatened him not to come back or his sugar bear wouldn’t call him.) Now here he was, driving roads that ten years apart couldn’t make him forget.

The town of Castle was in upstate New York, right on the border between Vermont and Massachusetts. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of the 21st century, the town had managed to stay pretty much unchanged and isolated, with residents who preferred it that way. The only upset had been when his parents had moved there, wanting to keep their son away from the media that being a Stark would only bring. They had commissioned a mansion on a hill set a bit apart from the town, with about a ten minute drive between the place and the entrance to town.

After the locals realized the Stark’s kept mostly to themselves, the hubbub had died down and the new couple was allowed to begin their family in peace.

But because of the disconnect between his parents and the locals, Tony had spent his first few years isolated, his parents paying for home tutors and the like. They had only been convinced to let Tony attend the local school after Zeek Stane and his bully friends had chased Tony, finally causing him to trip and fall down a hill, breaking his leg. The Stane family became a lot more absent from the mansion after that, but Tony couldn’t help thinking it was a good memory. Because at the bottom of that hill had been a skinny boy named Steve Rogers, who had thrown stones at the bullies while Tony lay squirming in pain.

After Zeek and the others had run, afraid of getting in trouble more than Steve’s onslaught (most of the rocks hadn’t reached them), the asthmatic boy had then proceeded to shoulder Tony, who was a good half-foot taller than him and seemed to weigh double what the boy did, and taken his straight to the hospital. Steve had needed to be there, too, after the trek had caused an asthma attack. Maria and Howard had gratefully paid Steve’s hospital bill, leaving his mother Sarah in near-tears.

After that, Tony and Steve had been stuck together like glue. Steve’s neighbor, Bucky, two years older than them, had joined their little group, and had quickly taken the position of Steve’s backup/the one who held him back. Steve was Tony’s protector, and whenever Tony aggravated someone or was bullied, which was quite a bit, stepped up for him.

They had drifted apart in middle school, when Tony had made friends with Tiberius Stone and Whitney Frost, Ty and Whit to Tony, who had encouraged his crush on Meredith McCall. Of course, when she rejected his confession, they had laughed. Not mean-spirited, but Steve had still punched Ty in the nose. Tony and his new friends had drifted apart after that as he rejoined his protector.

It was nostalgic, he realized as he drove, rolling down the window to let the cool, clean air wash over him like a balm. He hadn’t really realized down much he missed his home until he had been kidnapped. Ho Yinsen, the man who had saved his life after Tony was hit by one of his own bombs, had made Tony realize that more than anything, more than life itself, he wanted to go home. New York City had never really been home to him, and Malibu barely rated itself up there, but Castle… Yinsen and Tony had traded stories back and forth, Yinsen telling Tony about the family waiting for him, Tony telling Yinsen about the friends waiting for him. Tony had wanted to introduce Steve and Yinsen. They would get along.

Tony’s eyes crinkled and his mouth turned down as he remembered the man who had sacrificed his own life so that Tony could live.

“Don’t waste your life,” he repeated with a sad smile. “I’m trying, Yinsen, I promise I am.”

The winding roads were familiar, he almost felt like he could close his eyes and still see every turn as he made it. He had never really thought about everything, the big picture, before, he’d merely kept his memories from one to the next without really linking them together, looking at his life and realizing the feelings that had always been there and yet somehow never manifested in any real, tangible way. For now, he cranked up the radio and hummed along to the current ACDC song playing from his playlist.

* * *

 

There had been the times he’d attempted to hand-roll cigarettes, Bucky and Clint laughing at him as the tobacco blew away in the wind for the fifth time, he remembered an hour later. Steve had merely smiled at him as he had given up, content to sit pressed against Steve from ankle to shoulder. There had never really been any boundaries between them, back then.

Of course, with that memory came the times he had had to book it across fields with the guys, running from local law enforcement for breaking into the school one-too-many times. They’d been drunk as hell on alcohol that Tony had stolen from his father’s stash. Bucky, Clint, Thor, Sam, and him had then collapsed behind Steve’s place, laughing hysterically as the 17-year-old had reluctantly gone outside to drag them all in. Thor, Clint, and Sam were left on the floor while Bucky and Tony were granted the privilege of sleeping on the bed with Steve. They’d not cared, back then, they’d been kids.

Next came his experiment with Loki, kissing behind the burger joint. He’d missed and Loki had been all teeth, and after they laughed about it until their sides hurt and Steve and Thor had to come find them curled up on the ground cracking up. The two of them had been closer than ever after that, Loki was, in fact, one of the two people Tony still kept up with from Castle even after he’d moved away.

* * *

 

Thanks to Loki and Natasha, he was still up-to-date on all the latest gossip from their little town. He could only think of that as he drove through the darkened Castle at 3 a.m. There was the clothes store, Sam had inherited it after his parents passed, and was apparently doing alright for himself. There was the apartment Bruce stayed in on the weekends, commuting back from the coast where he worked during the week. Thor’s small house, where Loki lived with the other man’s twin girls while Thor lived in some other part of town. Tony was going to have a long, violent talk with the blond once he’d settled in.

Clint’s place, where he used to live with his brother before the man had overdosed just two years after Tony had left. He wished he could say it was a shock, but they’d all known Barney had a lot of issues, some that went back to the childhood Clint had always been loathe to talk about. Tony had wanted to be there for the funeral, but Natasha had told him not to bother, there wasn’t going to be one anyways.

And there was Bucky’s house, the one he used to live in with Peggy before the two had realized that they were better friends than husband and wife. They’d divorced, she’d moved away, and two years later Bucky had tied the knot with Natasha. They’d eloped, leaving Tony one more out in the cold when it came to his friend’s lives.

And on the outskirts of town, Steve’s rundown little house, a one-bedroom, barely-a-bathroom place that looked like it was leaking in multiple places. He was apparently a starving artist, and Tony couldn’t help but smile fondly as he thought that that was just so like Steve. Who’d apparently become a bit of a beefcake after Tony had left, his allergies and asthma finally leaving him, and he’d grown and muscled up quite quickly. Tony didn’t care, however. He’d been in love with the scrawny, asthmatic young boy who’d thrown rocks at his bullies since they first met.

Reaching the old mansion, he knew he was home. He’d paid a cleaning service to come in and scrub the place once a week, so it was without dust once he entered. No one was living here anymore, however, leaving Tony to smile as he picked his way to his old bedroom. It hadn’t changed in the years since he’d been gone, and he hadn’t expected it to. But instead of indulging in the memories of his home, he instead collapsed on the bed, pulling the sheets up around him as he got undressed without getting up. As his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.

**Author's Note:**

> HI ALL! I know, I haven't posted in a while... you can thank my little kouhai for getting me back in the Stony spirit!
> 
> I'm hoping it finish this fic in the next few days, and finish it in the coming weeks. No promises, however.


End file.
